CHAPTER NINE

MAZEEDA HAD LOST BY ONE point that morning to Khai, and the loss had been bothering her all day until now.

The Caliph was going to be here any minute.

She stood by the windowed doors, looking out to the vast yard underneath her. It was dark now, but in the morning, it was vibrant with color Mazeeda had yet to get accustomed to.

“The stars are beautiful tonight,” Khai quietly said, his voice so soft it was like a whisper of a wind.

Startled, the queen turned around with her henna hands clutched to her chest. She found her husband standing in the middle of the room with less elegant clothing on him this time. Colors of green and white clashing against each other.

It made him look softer and less threatening.

“Yes, they are,” his wife answered even though she hadn't looked up to the star spilled sky.

A playful smile appeared on his thin lips and Mazeeda knew what he was going to bring up instantly. She nearly rolled her eyes. “Please, do not bring it up.”

His smile dropped before laughing, his voice teasing when he asked, “Bring what up, my love?” He dared to step closer to his queen.

The storyteller watched his every step with caution, like a vulture. “About this morning.”

“Ah,” he remembered now. “It seems as though I am still the best in Yaheisea.”

She raised a challenging eyebrow. “Oh, but not for long. Because I intend to beat you in a rematch.”

“So persistent and stubborn as always,” Khai mumbled under his breath. He walked passed her to the awaiting door and opened it, the night breeze rippling through his fixed hair and turning it into a perfect mess. “Come.”

Mazeeda stalked to her awaiting husband on the balcony, his elbows propped against the cent railing. She took the time to look at the stars and found that they were indeed beautiful tonight. In her village, stars were wandering souls searching for a new body to take. She glanced back at the Caliph. “You were right, the stars are-”

The storyteller was stuck at sea with her words, especially when Khai’s gaze was so serious and forevermore searching her own brown eyes. She began to wonder what he saw it in.

“Khai?”

He closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling steadily for a moment before opening them. This time, they looked strained and almost glowing in the moon’s light. Mazeeda sucked in her breath.

“Khai?” she repeated, fear slowly filling up her body like an hourglass.

“Tell me...” he strained out, “tell me your story, love, and enchant me with your words once again.”

“Of course,” Mazeeda nodded as she tucked the loose strands behind her ear. “It took Sharik over a week to her able to get out of that rotting place. And when he went back home, he had only one thought circulating through his mind:

Leila.

He knew he wouldn't ever find her, but he thought about it. So he became careful in every battle he went in to. He made sure he didn't get himself killed. He wanted to stay alive so he could thank her.

For some reason, Sharik had changed. This war that would outlive him seemed so useless now. He had come from a line of great warriors and he would die just like them.

With great honor and pride. And he would soon be forgotten too.

But he heard two of his friends talking about the Annual Starfall Masquerade, an event to show off how prosperous the Moon people were compared to them. And then he knew he had to be there.

Somehow.

For Leila, her life carried on. She carried on her duties as a priests daughter, going down to earth to say prayers to those who have fallen victim of the war. But ever since her encounter with that Sun warrior, she had begun to say prayers to his kind too.

For some reason, she hoped to find him again on the battlefields.

When she couldn't find him, she slowly forgot about him, and got buried in pleasing her parents. Leila grew up in a rich, noble family, a privileged life. And she did not like it.

But at this time in the war, when they were finally winning, her brother got engaged and the Starfall Masquerade was nearing soon. She always looked forward to the event.”

Mazeeda looked away from the shattered night sky and to Khai, whom eyes were closed. His chest rising and falling steadily. She was so sure that she could fall asleep just by looking at him breathe.

She pushed herself off the railing and took a cautious step to him. And then another.

And another.

Until she was just inches away from his strong face, his cheekbones sharper in the night. A whisper of a wind touched his hair, making a few strands escape.

With her hand, the storyteller dared to defy every emotion coursing through her small body and brought it to his hollow cheek.

Surprisingly, his skin was neither soft or rough. She felt the subtle of hair she couldn't see with her eyes. She felt the warmth radiating into her skin. It felt…

It felt familiar under her fingertips.

And then his own hands went on top of hers, covering her fading hennas, and his thumb rubbed them in slow gentle circles.

Mazeeda’s eyes snapped up to meet his own brown ones. A sudden warmth of embarrassment washed over her, and she was sure her cheeks were flushed red like roses.

Khai pushed her hand away from his cheek. “Love of my heart,” his voice seemed to crack like desert land going months without water, “let's sleep tonight.”

The Calipha was struck silent.

But it was the Caliph who guided her to the bed, hand in hand. It was when he sat down on it that she began to panic.

She couldn't possible sleep in this bed and especially not with her husband. Not when just a week ago his hands were on her throat.

“What is it, Mazeeda?”

She shook her head in disbelief. How strange it was that his voice was coated in confusion as if he didn't recall what happened. “I-I can't sleep on that bed. I won't.”

“Then where do you sleep?”

The queen pointed to the long furniture across the room. “It's not much, but it's enough.”

Before she knew it, they both were laying on that furniture chest to chest. She dared not to move. She felt like a mouse next to this hawk.

“...Zeeda,” he mumbled out, eyes closed. “You're rigid as a rock. Relax.”

His wife tried to ever so slowly but found it useless. She was sleeping next to a bloodthirsty king who could kill her in her sleep.

Khai opened one eye. “Do you have nightmares like me? Is that why?”

“I-” She shook it off. “No, I do not.” A half lie and her husband knew it too.

“If you do, I will dance on this furniture and fight them off.” He closed his eye. “Now sleep, my love.”

Mazeeda forced herself to sleep and found an unforgiving nightmare.

She killed Khai in her dream, just like the other nightmares.

Every. Single. Time.

|AUTHOR'S NOTE|

sorry for the late update.

anyways, this chapter was hard for me to perfect. it was so much different from what i envisioned in my head.

and also bc i didnt want my characters falling for each other too fast. i like myself a slow burn romance.

ok, but honestly, i loved how i ended this chapter.